The MacBeth Theater (flood resilient build) - Page 4

Thanks! It would be good to know so I don't wait on something that won't happen.

I should be testing that soon; after sanding, priming and painting the new drywall I'll be getting the trim for the riser and lumber for the columns. Since the room is only 12' wide I'm going with two 12' boards (front and rear of the riser) and shoe moulding.

Skim coat should go on New years eve and the plan is to have it primed and painted after next weekend.

I also got my samples from Acoustimac and I think I'll be going with their Suede line for my acoustic panels. About 33% cheaper than GOM Anchorage.

Ceiling and soffits are primed and the velour black goes on tomorrow morning.



Seems like every few days I have another package delivered. You don't realize how many things go into building a theater until you actually plan and start. Today it was just rack ties, cables and stringer bars. A few more days and it will be my chief mount and isolation pads for the sub.

This weekend I'll be getting the lumber for the columns and hope to start them. Sunday will be playoffs so no work then.

The Rosco paint is some seriously black paint. I started off mixing it 1 to 1 with water but it looked a little thin and I didn’t want it dripping on me. I wound up mixing about ¾ gal of paint to ½ gal of water and it seemed to work well. I’ll either put a second coat on tonight or tomorrow. I painted about half the wall as well to hide any gaps I might have when I build my fabric frames (and all of the rack closet). I’m sure I won’t get them to match up perfectly.

I’ll have to try and seal up the bucket I mixed it in as I’d like to use the leftover paint to paint the rack and shelves I’ll build at some point.

I also stopped at the lumber store on my way to work and I didn’t do a great job of it. I’ve never bought wood from a lumber store so I’m sure I didn’t maximize boards like I should have, going to have more waste than was necessary. I’ll be picking it up Saturday and ripping it to the correct width at my brother’s. Going to need two people to rip 12’ boards and he has the table saw anyway. This load should take care of the columns, screen frame, and riser trim

I’ll chalk it up to a learning experience and I’ll know better when I go back for the wainscot, L/C/R speaker stands and panel trim.

Riser, columns and screen trim has all been ripped and ready to go. Riser trim and step have been installed. I forgot to add the shoe mould but oh we'll not going to tear it up to fix it. All trim is 7/8 inch thick so I think it looks fine without it.

Columns are in and some of the wainscot. I need to buy more 1/4 ply and poplar. Screen frame needs a few more brackets and the screen track but otherwise it's mostly done.




Can't seem to find my rear surround brackets but I'm sure I will soon.
For now the speaker is just sitting on the block. The blocks will tie into the theme of floating shelves that the LCR speakers will sit on.



Columns still need trim but you get the idea.

Thanks!

I took a couple of days off to get the work done. With no sound proofing I can't run nail guns, saws and so forth at night and I'm not going to wait and just do it one day each weekend.

Once I get to the stain, putty, finish stages I can work in the evenings. What cut into my time yesterday is having to go pick up a table saw and assemble it. Trying to rip down the ply and boards with a guide just wasn't working for me.

Just have to say, what a game today!

I did get some work done in the theater, door is now in and more wainscot is done.

Thanks!

Anyone have a good source for black hinges for cabinet doors? I basically just need a door style hinge or something similar that is much smaller than a normal door hinge. I checked both Lowes and Home Depot and they have nothing. I was hoping to find them locally to avoid shipping on 5 hinges. I guess I’ll have to find something online.

I was able to pick up the rest of my quarter round, French cleats and the screen track for the screen frame; I’ll have the frame done tonight.

I installed the power extender, door knob and the last brackets on the screen frame. The frame has a slight bow in it but I don’t think there is anything I’ll be able to do about it. Hopefully once it’s against the wall it will be OK.

I picked out most of the remaining lumber for the theater, I’ll still need some crown mould and some 8/4 poplar for the front L/R speaker. I would have loved to have done something nicer than poplar (although I like the grain of it myself) but I figured by the time I’m done it will be $650-$700 for all the columns, shelves and wainscot. If I had done something like mahogany, sapele, or walnut it would have been 3x-4x as much.

I need to clean up the area outside the theater, it’s starting to get full of tools and parts waiting to be installed

Never mind on the hinges, I ordered some non-mortise hinges from rockler. Screen fabric is on the way as well.

No progress without photos right?




Screen frame just needs French cleats and paint.


The door will be covered in wainscot and fabric so it will look more or less like the rest of the wall.



Close up of the fabric and a stain sample

Probably overkill but I was already having a load of poplar planed so I just picked of a couple extra boards. The lumber was ripped to 5" and is 7/8" thick.

I have also decided to skip the panel mould and just do crown around the columns. I kind have a square/clean look going on with the columns and the wainscot as it is now and panel mould would not flow with that. Plus it saves time and money...

Today was a productive day. Pictures enclosed.
Before:




After:





I know poplar is a cheap hardwood but actually like it better than oak and maple, it can have some nice figure and coloration.


One thing I need to decide is if I will carry over the upper part of the wainscot on the back columns. I am carrying the bottom or base on all the columns but originally didn't plan on the upper chair rail portion. It can't go on the side columns because of the speaker placement so it may look odd just on two of them:

Wainscot on the front wall or leave it all black?

Today's progress, not as significant as yesterday with it being slower detail work.



I thought of doing wainscot on the front wall but I think I'll just go with base instead.
Here was a mockup I did to get a feel for it:


The Ravens finally make it back to the Superbowl and my theater is out of commission. Curse you hurricane Sandy. Oh well at least it will be a lot nicer space for next season.

I feel bad for the fans of any of the teams that lost yesterday. I know how sad and mad I was to lose like we did last year.

Brady already has 3 Super Bowl rings in 5 Super Bowl appearances and I'm sure he'll have a chance at one next year so for him I'm not sad at all.

Riser front and step front/side is complete, the riser front is just attached with screws so it can be removed in case of flood (1.5” air gap under the riser). I’m currently working on the rack and sub door. Sub door is being glued now and once that is in place I’ll measure and build the rack door. While those bits are being glued I’m sanding all the columns and wainscot, I hope to stain at the end of the week or this weekend.

Acoustic panel fabric is on its way and the rack door will be the first one wrapped. I’ve found a local place for Linacoustic and its a lot cheaper than what I have found online although twice the amount I need. But then no reason to buy 50’ for more than I can buy 100’ right? I can always sell the rest.

I think I’ll need to start looking at carpet soon so I may have to schedule a visit to the local carpet stores. While at Home depot and Lowes I’ve looked through their carpets and haven’t found any I like.

As of right now I’m just going to run the base along the front wall. There will be 18”x18”, 2” thick poplar platforms for the L/R and a 36”x9”x2” platform under the center channel. If I don’t like the way that is working I’ll run with either shorter wainscot on the front wall as shown or same height wainscot and push the screen in front of it so it overlaps part of it.

The screen will just be hung by French cleats so I can move it out easily if I want to. It would probably be easier to mount because I could just level a board and screw it to the studs and then hang the screen on that. As it stands now I’m going to try to hit two studs with each of the 3 French cleats. I have access to the other side of the screen wall so at least I’ll be able to see if I miss any studs. I may still just mount an 8’ board to make it easier on myself.

Is there any trick to get non-mortise hinges on a door to line up correctly? I tried twice, first mounting to the cabinet door and then holding the door in place while I screwed it to the stile. Both times I messed it up and now I’m worried I have too many holes to get it in the right spot.

I’ll try to take some pictures tonight to show you what I mean.

Also my fabric has come in, can’t wait to get started on frames. I made one frame last night for the rack door but I can’t really wrap or install any until the wood is stained and finished.

I did a sample stain with some wood conditioner first and a coat of lacquer and it came out nice. The only thing was the fumes on the lacquer were pretty bad so I’ll need to pick up a good respirator and I need to wait until it warms up a bit so I can open the basement windows and put a fan to help pull out the vapors.

Sanding is done and all wood has been wiped down so I’m ready for stain. I think I’ll have to wait until I can pre-condition and stain the entire room at one clip since most everything touches and it’s a lot of wood; hopefully Sunday.